Performer: Victor Sgarbi

Opera Lyrica is a new addition to the thriving small opera company scene in the UK. Founded in 2012 by artistic director Paola Cuffolo and producer Nick Simpson, it gives aspiring professionals valuable opportunities.

Considering the number of operas he set in Britain, Donizetti was surprisingly unfamiliar with the place – Emilia di Liverpool famously has characters, one of whom is the long lost “Count of Liverpool”, stopping off there on their way from London to Oxford.